This invention relates to script prompt devices, and particularly those which are used in association with video cameras. The script prompt device of the invention is a light-weight, portable and inexpensive prompt device which can be easily attached to and removed from a camera lens with which it may be associated.
Teleprompters, or prompting mechanisms associated with video and film cameras, are well-known accessories and commonly used by actors, news readers, news reporters and other personal reading off prepared information and documents while being shot by the camera. These teleprompter systems comprise a portion which attaches to a camera lens, including a mirror with hood, associated with a monitor located at the angle thereto, so that a person standing in front of the camera is able to view the image displayed on the monitor in the mirror. The mirror is, conventionally, a two-way mirror, thus enabling the lens behind the mirror to capture images on the other side thereof.
The monitor is typically attached to the mirror and hood, but, due to its weight, is incapable of being supported by the lens. Therefore, in most known applications, the monitor would be firmly attached to a pedestal, bracket, or other support independent of the lens and mounted separately from the lens so that it can be fully and stably supported.
The monitor in such teleprompters is typically attached to a power source, as well as a computer into which the text to be read by the reader in front of the camera is displayed. As the text is displayed on the monitor, it can be read through the reflected image on the mirror mounted on the lens, and at an appropriate angle to the monitor screen. The text, which should be in inverted or reverse script, is scrolled up and down along the monitor as the reader reads through the information.
In conventional teleprompters, the mirror has on one side thereof the hood or housing which defines a chamber. The housing fits onto the end of the lens of the camera. When attached to the lens, the chamber defined by the housing and mirror is essentially sealed to light, and the only light permitted to enter the chamber, and hence the lens of the camera, is that which passes through the two-way mirror. This comprises the image of the objects at which the lens is directed.
As mentioned above, prompters associated with television cameras currently in use are large and heavy devices, and usually weigh between 9 and 75 pounds. Since they are very cumbersome and complex to set up, a considerable amount of time needs to be devoted to the attachment and setup of the prompter, requiring technicians, operators and special support equipment which are necessary to ensure the proper operation of the teleprompter.
While the cumbersome teleprompters described above can be set up on a permanent basis within televisions studios, and there is little difficulty in such studios in providing the necessary pedestals, brackets and support means, as well as the requisite technicians, the situation is very different where news reports and documentaries are being shot in the field, where the facilities and technology found in a television sound studio are absent. It must be understood that considerable time needs to be set aside for the assembly of the camera and teleprompter equipment, which may waste critical time in providing breaking news reports.
The cost of conventional teleprompter equipment is also relatively high. Thus, replacement thereof is expensive, and such replacement may be necessary more frequently on account of external conditions which may damage or shorten the life of the equipment. Expensive packing and protective equipment may also be essential to preserve this expensive equipment.